Ryan Blaney portrayed himself as the true defending champion in the Quaker State 400 this past weekend. Not only did he lead most of Stage 1, at least until the caution, but he also found a way to spring back to action after the crash that ultimately ended the race for Chris Buescher and Martin Truex Jr.

Although the race was won by Blaney’s Team Penske teammate, Joey Logano, the #12 driver also had a pivotal role in his race. Since Atlanta Motor Speedway’s revamp has brought it closer to draft-style racing, Blaney’s backing is essentially what kept Logano in the lead, beside Daniel Suarez, subsequently passing him for the win.

How did Ryan Blaney make the comeback at Atlanta?

The opening race of the Playoffs at AMS began pretty well for Team Penske, as Blaney was at 2nd and Logano at 7th. Blaney started from the outside of the front row and took over Truex Jr. on Lap 30 to lead the race and persisted in doing so until the end of the 60-lap stage. Blaney closely followed his teammate, Austin Cindric, throughout his Stage 2 lead and finished 2nd.

Although Blaney could never make it back to the front row, he remained in the top 10 in hopes of a late move to the top. But a crash caught him by surprise in Stage 3 when Chris Buescher lost control of his car at Lap 205. The #17 hit the left door of the #12 sending it sliding across the track and into the #19. As a result, both #17 and #19 were eliminated from the race.

But the #12 came back with a bang, thanks to only cosmetic damages sustained by the car. Ryan Blaney later told Bob Pockrass, “I got super lucky; I got hit at an angle where I kinda just like eventually just straighten out. I didn’t spin or anything or sank in the wall. Yeah, I don’t know how much it hurted, it still felt fine.” These four words summed up the crash for Blaney that took out 2 drivers. “I could get through the field and in the middle where I wanted to get. So, the car still had good speed.”, added Blaney.

Meanwhile, Daniel Suarez also found his way to the top, with his teammate, Ross Chastain supporting him with the draft from behind, the same role that Blaney played for Logano. Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain were dancing alongside the Team Penske drivers in a bid to get a clear lead. But Chastain squandered amidst the rigor and gave way for Chastain to overtake Suarez.

Is Blaney satisfied with a 3rd finish despite an exceptional race?

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Ryan Blaney was, obviously, insanely close to the front row for pretty much the entirety of the race. “I honestly thought I could get clear on 2 and then maybe have something down the back to get to Joey. I just didn’t quite get clear.”, shared Blaney post the race. But he found contentment in being able to survive the crash that ended in a DNF for the other 2 drivers. “I know we had a really good day and like risk wrecking. So, I just figured we take the run home instead.”, he sighed.

There were multiple occasions of crashes that could have easily turned the day sour for the title defender. Even Buescher is remorseful of the way the crash went down as he confessed, “Driver error. Caught a bump and the car stepped out… disappointed in myself for that one”. However, the #12 team worked meticulously to fare through the obstacles and get the maximum points out of the race. Blaney scored 53 points at Atlanta, which was even higher than Logano’s 47. He now leads the NASCAR Standings.

“So, proud of the effort, proud of them sticking with it when we got a little bit of damage, fixing it and driving back to the field. So, yeah, really cool day.”, concluded Blaney.